WASHINGTON–CUNA said its “Credit Union Awareness” initiative, better known to many as the “Open Your Eyes” campaign, is “making significant progress towards the goal of increasing consumer consideration for the credit union category.”
According to the July 2021 bi-annual research results conducted by CU Awareness, LLC, which is overseeing the campaign, “more consumers than ever are aware of credit unions, demonstrated by a nearly 10-point increase in ad recall for credit unions nationally.”
CU Awareness said consumer consideration for credit unions as lenders has reached 22%, an increase of eight points from the baseline in 2019.
“In states where the program has run the longest, total consideration achieved double digit growth,” the organization stated.
While consumer consideration is the primary objective of the program, the research also measured consumer perceptions of the credit union brand, CUNA added.
“It’s clear that once consumers become members, they experience credit unions as exceptional, life long, financial partners,” shared Chris Lorence, executive director of CU Awareness, LLC.
Three-Billion Impressions
According to CU Awareness, to date the program has delivered more than three-billion impressions, elevating the credit union difference to consumers across digital platforms. CUNA said it expects the initiative to continue to expand and be in 30 states by year end.
“The investments that credit unions, leagues, CUNA and industry partners have made in this is initiative are paying off,” said Teresa Freeborn, CU Awareness, LLC chairman and president, of California-based Kinecta CU. “To begin to move the needle on market share, we had to do something radically different to reach consumers where they are, digitally. In order to see continued progress, credit unions must support this game changing industry initiative.”